7:30 am -  8:30 am

Registration / Continental Breakfast

  8:30 am -  9:20 am

Building a Memory for Success - Your profession demands that you remember a wealth of knowledge.  The requirement to recall individual claims and technical data required of WC claims and medical professionals can be overwhelming!  Forgetting important information and details like names, dates and other critical information can be downright embarrassing and costly for you, your employer or client, and ultimately, your career. Have no fear!  The Memory Trainer is here! (Speaker: Alan Mong, Deliver Freedom, Inc.)

  9:20 am - 10:20 am

New Legislation: New Rules - 1st Responders Redefine Florida Work Comp - Florida’s 2007 legislative session introduced a significant new W/C law that provides an unprecedented expansion of benefits as Florida joins California as the only other state in the nation to provide “mental/mental” benefits ... but only for first responders! Is this the “crack in the dam”, the “hole in the dike”, or the “foot in the door”? Exactly who are and who aren’t “first responders”? The NCCI predicts lots of litigation over this one. Will you be ready? (Speaker: Dennis Ross, Legislator & Former Chair, House Insurance Committee and a distinguished panel; Moderator: James W. Greer, CPCU, Ex. Director, WCCP)

10:20 am - 10:45 am

Sponsored Break

10:45 am - 11:20 am

New Legislation: New Rules - Monitoring “Practice Patterns”-
Change has come to the DFS, and new name and new initiative is about to roll out over the Florida landscape.  In a brief but insightful presentation, new DFS Bureau Chief Robin Ippolito will enlighten us on the draft Rules for the DFS’ new initiative of “Monitoring Practice Patterns”.  They’re no longer just looking at payments, folks!  They’re going to looking at your activities!  Get on the front-end of this initiative.  Remember! Forewarned is forearmed!
(Speaker: Robin Ippolito, Bureau Chief, Monitoring & Audit, Florida Department of Financial Services; Moderator: James W. Greer, CPCU, Ex. Director, WCCP)

11:20 am - 12:10 pm

Balancing the Interests of Work Comp - With new legislation expanding the rights of first responders, and new Rules looking over your shoulder, you’re bound to be tempted to take short cuts, and sometimes make decisions that you might not otherwise make if it weren’t for the new pressures. Sue Anger brings a new light to an old subject:  how do you balance all of these interests and still do the right (i.e. “ethical”) thing?
(Speaker: Sue Anger, Law Offices of Sue Anger, P.A.)

12:10 pm -   1:00 pm

Sponsored Lunch

  1:00 pm -  1:50 pm

Strategic Claims Negotiations - Saving the best for last! One of Florida’s most popular litigators covers the art of claims negotiation, including concepts and principles that have proven successful time after time over the decades for both claims and legal practitioners.
(Speaker: Jeff Vernis, Vernis & Bowling, P.A.)

  1:50 pm -  2:20 pm

Holiday Break & Door Prizes

  2:20 pm -  3:10 pm

The Florida Bar’s Litigation Medical Workshop: Advances In & Limitations of Diagnostic Testing - This lively and fast-paced session will bring you face to face with the physics of MRI testing and what it can and can’t do.  You’ll become familiar with the nomenclature of spinal disc abnormalities, find out how the age of spinal injuries can be determined, and learn how to reconcile the conflicting reports of radiology experts. (Speaker: Mark Herbst, MD, PhD, St. Petersburg Independent Diagnostic Radiology)

  3:10 pm -  4:00 pm

The Florida Bar’s Litigation Medical Workshop: Pain Management - Comp’s Newest Occupational Disease - It seems there is just no cure for the cure.  How easy it is for physicians to give up on the treatment of an injured worker and turn them over pain management specialists, only to have those physicians treat every malady with drugs and injections - treatments that may themselves be worse than the original injury or medical condition.  But do they stop? No!  What can you do when you see the claimant’s condition deteriorating while costs skyrocket? In this session we’ll ask the tough questions of one doctor who is willing to step up to the plate and provide some sorely needed direction.
(Speaker: Dr. Charles Freidman)

...and to end the year just right (chill out - the traffic’s bad no matter what time you leave!)

  4:00 pm -  5:00 pm

Managing the Needs of a Mixed Up Generation of Claimants - and Doing It Right! For the first time in history, the American workforce is comprised of four distinct generations - each with differing perceptions and attitudes about work, values, communication patterns, expectations from management, and even work hours. One minute you’re handling the work comp claim of a 25 year old; the next minute you’re handling one with a 65 year old.  And they think and act so different! Their expectations are so diametrically opposed! In this highly entertaining and enlightening session, you’ll learn how to be a part of, work effectively with, and handle the claims of the 21st century’s most intriguing resource, and most valuable asset, the “Gen-Mixers”. (Speaker: Andy Small, President, Directional Achievement, Inc.)

5:00 pm

Adjournment